At this week’s MTN App of the year awards the FNB Banking App won in the following categories: Best iOS (Apple) App, Best BlackBerry App, Best Android App and

Michael Jordaan

the best Overall App.

According to FNB CEO Michael Jordaan “We are really proud of this achievement, and our in house development team, FNB Connect. It is testament to our drive for innovation. The FNB App, a first for South Africa and a key step in our innovations journey, has added convenience and value for many of our smartphone and tablet users. We set out to delight our customers.”

According to Jordaan the catalyst for success of the App has been a combination of value, usability, adoptability and desirability. Jordaan adds “A great App has got to have value and be useful for the customer. On the FNB App for arguments sake we have Geo Payments, which makes face to face type once off payments simpler than ever. A great App has also got to be easy to use. The FNB App single sign on process is a good example of how we tried to make it easy for our customers to use. It has also got to be easy to adopt. By having native Apps for different operating systems, the adoption curve is less steep for our clients. Lastly it has got to be fun and engaging.”

The FNB App launched on Apple, BlackBerry and Android devices in July 2012, as the only retail banking App in South Africa and according to FNB has proved to be popular. There 230 000 active clients using the Banking App, with new users growing by over 30 000 per month. “The growth rate has superseded our expectations,” says Farren Roper, Head of FNB Connect ISP.

Over R 6 billion has been transacted using the App, since the launch, with R1billion being transacted in June alone. Over R2 million has been transacted via GeoPay, the App’s cashless once-off, face-to-face payment function since its launch in May 2012.

The App user demographic shows that 51% of users are male and 49% are female, with the majority (57.5%) of users aged between 26-34 years. “We have seen that user demographic behaviour has begun to shift, with the largest proportion of users being 25-36. In our 36 and older base we have seen the amount grow to 30.5% dispelling the myth that Apps and smartphones are for the youth only,” concludes Roper

The retail bank App landscape has changed with FNB’s competitors either having launched App’s post FNB’s and according to FNB the key to future success is not to be complacent and to continue to deliver firsts on the App platform which add value to the client.